by Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace
Now that the candidates have committed themselves to deepen their experience of Jesus and prepare for the special coming of the Holy Spirit into their hearts at confirmation, it’s important that they, and all of us, try to listen now deeply to the word of God to try to understand what this word of God means today as we celebrate this ceremony that begins the program of preparation for confirmation for these parish members.
And, of course, the first thing that we heard in today’s Gospel, the words of Jesus: “The reign of God is at hand; change your lives.” The reign of God is at hand; change your lives. That means every one of us once more begin to try to deepen the change that began in us when we were first committed ourselves to follow Jesus.
If we’re going to change our lives, I think we probably need a good reason, and that comes from the promise that Jesus, or that declaration that Jesus makes when he says, “The reign of God is at hand.” Do you understand what the reign of God is? We hear that term often in the Gospel, but I’m not so sure if all of us really have the deep sense of what Jesus means when he says, “the reign of God.”…